Rep. Nancy Mace has called on her fellow Republicans to snub ABC News until host George Stephanopoulos is “held accountable” in a lawsuit against him and the network over what he said about former President Donald Trump.
“Quite frankly, Republicans should boycott ABC News until George Stephanopoulos is held accountable for the egregious lies he purposely told on air on ABC News ’This Week,’” Ms. Mace told Newsmax Tuesday. “I’m glad that Donald Trump is suing ABC News, and I hope he sues him for every single penny. Maybe $454 million sounds about right for that.”
“I’m going to tell the truth, Donald Trump is going to tell the truth, and we’re not going to take it from a bridge troll with a microphone like George Stephanopoulos,” the South Carolina Republican said.
Ms. Mace suggested the $454 million figure because it would cover what the former president owes in his New York civil fraud case.
She called on Bob Iger, CEO of Walt Disney Co. to get “a grip of ABC News [because they’re] completely out of control.”
Mr. Trump is suing ABC News and Mr. Stephanopoulos for defamation after the host mentioned the former president being found “liable for rape” during a heated interview with Ms. Mace.
In the March 10 interview, Mr. Stephanopoulos asked Ms. Mace, a rape survivor, how she could endorse Mr. Trump after he was found liable for sexual abuse in the defamation lawsuit brought by magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll.
The “This Week” host played a video clip of Ms. Mace giving testimony of her experience of being raped before she announced her run for Congress in 2019. The congresswoman said Mr. Stephanopoulos was “shaming” her, but he said the question wasn’t meant to shame her, it was a question about Mr. Trump.
The lawsuit takes an issue with Mr. Stephanopoulos saying the former president has been “liable for rape.” Mr. Trump has never been criminally charged with the crime. In the Carroll case, a federal jury found Mr. Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation, but not rape.
“These statements were and remain false, and were made by Defendant Stephanopoulos with actual malice or with a reckless disregard for the truth given that Defendant Stephanopoulos knows that these statements are patently and demonstrably false,” Alejandro Brito, Mr. Trump’s attorney, said in a complaint.
“Indeed, the jury expressly found that Plaintiff did not commit rape and, as demonstrated below, Defendant George Stephanopoulos was aware of the jury’s finding in this regard yet still falsely stated otherwise,” the attorney said.
The lawsuit was filed last week in U.S. District Court in Southern Florida.
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.
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